An acoustic camera is a device that can be used to render a visual representation of the sound energy in a scene. The result of this visualization is sometimes referred to as an acoustic image or an acoustic mapping. Similar to an image produced by a standard camera, an acoustic image is a 2-D grid of pixels. But, unlike light-based images in which pixels correspond to light modalities within a scene, pixels in acoustic images correspond to the intensities of sound emanating within a scene. In some cases, signal processing techniques in combination with a 1-D array of microphones can be utilized, wherein each pixel of an output image represents the sound intensity from a unique angle of arrival as captured at each spatial point by microphones of the 1-D array. One such example technique is beamforming, also known as spatial filtering. Beamforming includes delaying each microphone signal relatively and adding them. As a result, the signal coming from a particular direction is amplified (e.g., is in phase) while signals coming from other directions (angles) are attenuated or otherwise mitigated. The intensity of the resulting signal can then be calculated and mapped such that a pixel corresponding to the angle (or direction) of arrival reflects the power of the signal.
These and other features of the present embodiments will be understood better by reading the following detailed description, taken together with the figures herein described. The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing.